So I discussed this in the CB. At first I advocated for some sitewide setting. After hearing a lot of opinion that it should be up to the user, perhaps this is a setting that could be enabled (disabled?) at the user setting?

How about a setting that automatically puts a readmore tag X lines into a post if it's more than say Y lines long? Perhaps a good initial setting for X and Y would be 10 and 20?

What do you think?

Comment on Functionality to automatically insert <readmore> tags into long posts?

As you mentioned in the CB discussion, existing tags will have to be respected. <readmore> can't be inserted in the middle of a <code> block for example. Also, nothing automatic should happen if the submitter includes appropriate <readmore> tags on their own initiative. This way if the automation gets it wrong, the submitter can go back and place the tags more appropriately.

This feature wouldn't be a huge improvement or anything, just help alleviate one small annoyance. So in that sense it's hard to justify much investment in it. However, it does affect all visitors many/most of whom wont employ a nodelet-hack and will thus have slightly less positive experience.

Hi OfficeLinebacker,What do you think?
In as much as automation of "any" form could be see as a "cool" feature depending on who and what. I think people should be responsible to a large extent for what and how their post is.Of course, one could argue that automation for <code> tag should be done so that, once a line as such as #!/usr/bin/perl or use warnings; use strict; is seen then a code tag should be applya. If so, where then is the "free-will" and the real "freedom". Make a tool available to people and show them how to use it, is way of better than doing it for them. Mine thought!

a I prefer people putting their codes in code tags though!!!

If you tell me, I'll forget.
If you show me, I'll remember.
if you involve me, I'll understand.
--- Author unknown to me

Better usability for people reading the Monastery (including those without accounts, if a sensible default is chosen).

Less tax on moderators to consider nodes for addition of <readmore> tags.

Puts the subjective judgement of "how long is too long" on the person affected by the length: the reader. In other words, where should the poster place <readmore> tags to simultaneously cater to monks who each prefer a different length?

Development and maintenance would likely be rather small compared to the benefit.

my forum software just tells the user that the posting is too long and suggests to use more-tags (and subtracts already used more-tags from the size of the posting). otherwise it prevents the user from posting.
this is the easier part; automatic insertion of such tags would be more complicated.

Some forum-engines handle this sort of thing automagically on-display. If the post is longer than a certain size, it stops at a certain point with a clickable tag ... which reveals the rest by means of a little JavaScript snippet that un-hides the HTML section. It would be easy to do. But is it actually worth doing? I’m not sure. I guess I’m too comfortable now with this ol’ familiar dog ... and reluctant to do things with other people’s content, as they say, “automagically.”

Ada Lovelace for the palindrome
Albert Einstein for having smelly feet
Alfred Nobel for his contribution to battlefield science
Burkhard Heim for providing the missing link between science and mysticism
Claude Shannnon for riding a unicycle at night at MIT
Donald Knuth for being such a great organist
Edward Teller for being the template for Dr. Strangelove
Edwin Hubble for pretending to be a pipe-smoking English gentleman
Erwin Schrödinger for cruelty to cats
Hedy Lamarr for weaponizing pianos
Hugh Everett for immortality, especially for cats
Isaac Newton for his occult studies
Kikunae Ikeda for discovering the secrets of soy sauce
Larry Wall for his website
Louis Camille Maillard for discovering why steaks taste good
Marie Curie for the shiny stuff
Nikola Tesla for the cool cars
Paul Dirac for speaking one word per hour when socializing
Richard Feynman for his bongo skills
Robert Oppenheimer for his in-depth knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita
Rusi P Taleyarkhan for Cold Fusion
Sigmund Freud for his Ménage à trois
Theodor W Adorno for his contribution to the reception of jazz
Wilhelm Röntgen for the foundations of body scanners
Yulii Borisovich Khariton for the Tsar Bomba
Other (please explain why)